Growth is a big part of our culture, especially through our learning & development department - School of Centric. Our colleagues are continuously challenging themselves to grow both professionally and personally - and share some of their insights about the learning and growth process below.
"If you love what you do, you will be willing to invest time and energy in your learning path."
Software Developer
Mirel Albu
What motivates you to learn?
One may find motivation in various areas of his life, but the most crucial aspect of the learning process is to find pleasure in what you do. If you love what you do, you will be willing to invest time and energy in your learning path.
But let’s be honest, there are different chores that you do not love; nonetheless, you still have to do them. If that’s the case, you should find motivation at another level because you do not know how your learning experience will eventually help other colleagues in their learning journey.
It is also crucial to point out how essential it is to have a continuous learning mindset since the information moves as never before and technology evolves rapidly.
How do you make time for learning?
Planning your learning process helps you have an overview of the different goals you set up along the way. For example, it is hard to prepare for travel when you do not know your destination. When you have your final goal in mind and plan each baby step individually, you can prioritize your activities to reach that goal.
What is the most useful/interesting thing you have learned recently?
The most helpful thing that I’ve learned recently is that the biggest lie you can tell yourself is that you’ve reached that position where there’s nothing else for you to learn. In my opinion, this perspective is dangerous because it forces you to let your guard down - development-wise.
What was your biggest failure, and what did you learn from it?
There are two different ways by which you can learn: the hard way and the easy way. The easy way would be to look at various people in your area, identify their mistakes and learn from them. In contrast, the hard way is to start your career blindfolded and make those same mistakes.
Thinking about it, not all the time I’ve chosen the easy route in the learning process. Even though sometimes you may learn the hard way, that’s alright; at least you learned, right?
Who has been the most inspirational person for your career and why?
While people sometimes try to find someone famous to inspire them, I find it helpful to discover those people in my everyday life that influence me greatly:
- I find inspiration in my gorgeous wife when I see her loving and caring heart;
- I find inspiration in my beautiful daughters when they embrace me with pure joy on those rainy days;
- I find inspiration in my colleagues at work, seeing how they get together and work their way to success;
- I find inspiration in those aspects that we often view as ordinary, but they are, in fact, extraordinary.
“Enjoy the little things in life; for one day, you may look back and realize they were the big things.”
